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All posts for the month March, 2013

Norway… Year two, the wildlife

Posted by Arno on March 29, 2013
Posted in: color, lightroom, nature, photography, wildlife. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

Last year we desperately wanted to see them. Maybe not as desperately as the Lights, but still… we didn’t see any: sea eagles. They are huge. And gracious.
This year we saw a good number of them, but always too far away to get a decent picture.
We got some, but they’re not spectacular. A bit closer than most of them we saw, but still pretty far away. Considering this was shot with a 300mm + TC2.
(in any case: this is a “wild” one. This is not one of those staged pictures where they put fish out and you just wait for it to come flying to you 😉 ).

D800, ISO400, 1/1000 sec @ f/8, Nikkor 300mm + TC2

D800, ISO400, 1/1000 sec @ f/8, Nikkor 300mm + TC2

D800, ISO400, 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 300mm + TC2

D800, ISO400, 1/1000 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 300mm + TC2

There’s plenty of other wildlife. Small(er) birds, reindeer, of course. But I’ve got enough pictures of reindeer. We could’ve gone and set up camp somewhere in the middle of nowhere and hope to see an arctic fox or owl, or something like that… But … not this time 😀

Norway… Year two, who wouldn’t want to live here?

Posted by Arno on March 26, 2013
Posted in: black and white, color, lightroom, nature, photography, Photoshop, seasons, shapes, travel, weather. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

This was absolutely breath-taking. Even if it’s very simple to explain what you see, sometimes it’s hard to actually believe what you see.
And it’s remarkable how the weather influences your perception. We drove by this inlet several times and only once was it like this. When there was even the slightest breeze, and the water would start moving, the dream scenario disappeared instantly.

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 50mm

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 50mm

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 50mm. 6 images stitched in Photoshop.

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 50mm. 6 images stitched in Photoshop.

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 50mm

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 50mm

 

 

Norway… Year two, the other 12 hours per day

Posted by Arno on March 23, 2013
Posted in: color, industry, lightroom, long exposure, nature, object, photography, Photoshop, travel. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Scouting, driving around the area, stopping the car, getting out of the car, getting into the car, driving, stopping the car, getting out of the car, getting into the car, driving… It’s the thing you typically do only with your fellow photographers. You do that with your spouse and inevitably you’ll get to see a lot of rolling eyes and the “*sighs* NOT AGAIN??”-looks 😉
And even then there were beautiful scenes we missed, because of possible life-threatening situations we might’ve faced had we stopped (or leaned too far over the edge).

Icicles hanging from the rocks in beautiful shapes

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/4, Nikkor 14-24mm

Icicles hanging from a rock in Sommarøy, Norway

D800, ISO100, 1/125 sec @ f/11, Nikkor 14-24mm

Waterfall flowing down into a small downstream river

D800, ISO100, 15 sec @ f/11, Nikkor 50mm + Singh-Ray VariND

Shack on a little island in Sommarøy, Norway, with a small ligh

D800, ISO100, 1/500 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 70-200mm

Fishermen town of Koppangen, Norway

D800, ISO100, 1/250 sec @ f/5.6, Nikkor 50mm

Islands in the sea around Sommarøy, Norway

D800, ISO100, 1/125 sec @ f/11, Nikkor 14-24mm, 4 images stitched in Photoshop

View towards Cathedral from Sommarøy, Norway

D800, ISO100, 1/500 sec @ f/8, 8 images stitched in Photoshop

 

 

 

 

Norway… Year two, the window between day and night

Posted by Arno on March 20, 2013
Posted in: color, lightroom, long exposure, nature, photography, Photoshop, shapes, travel, weather. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

Seeing the Northern Lights isn’t a given. With the unpredictability of the weather up there there’s as much chance of seeing the Lights as there isn’t.
And considering the fact that the Lights are only visible in the evenings and/or at night, it leaves about 12 hours of daylight time to shoot other things. And besides being insanely expensive, Norway is also an insanely beautiful country. At least up in the north where we were.

Sunsets and sunrises, a part of every photographer’s portfolio wherever he/she goes (I’m privileged that I got to see the Lights in the first place, but it would be sooooo cool to catch the them at sunset…)

D800, ISO100, 1/30 sec @ f/16, Nikkor 14-24mm

D800, ISO100, 1/30 sec @ f/16, Nikkor 14-24mm

D800, ISO100, 1/125 sec @ f/22, Nikkor 14-24mm

D800, ISO100, 1/125 sec @ f/22, Nikkor 14-24mm

Sunset over Rekvik, Norway

D800, ISO100, 1/125 sec @ f/8, Nikkor 50mm

Sunset over Rekvik, Norway

D800, ISO800, 8 sec @ f/2.8, Nikkor 14-24mm

 

Norway… Year two.

Posted by Arno on March 17, 2013
Posted in: color, long exposure, nature, photography, Photoshop, shapes, weather. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 comments

I’ve decided to stick in the cold for a bit.
Last year we went to Norway to shoot the Northern Lights. It almost turned out in one big expensive disappointing trip.
This year we went again, and it turned out in one big great expensive trip (3 Peppe Pizzas for 108,00€: chaCHING!!!!). But the photos we got were absolutely breath-taking. And no need to Photoshop anything into another picture. All these are genuine and -save for some color adjustments here and there (foreground mostly, not the Lights)- unedited.

I’ll not bore you with any superfluous words. Judge for yourself.

Northern Lights dancing over the hills in Norway

D800, ISO800, 15 sec @ f/4, Nikkor 14-24mm

Northern Lights dancing over the hills in Norway

D800, ISO800, 30 sec @ f/4, Nikkor 14-24mm

Northern Lights dancing over the hills in Norway

D800, ISO800, 30 sec @ f/4, Nikkor 14-24mm

Northern Lights dancing over the hills in Norway

D800, ISO800, 79 sec @ f/4, Nikkor 14-24mm, and a little torch to illuminate the barn to the right for about 15 secs

Northern Lights dancing over the hills in Norway

D800, ISO800, 30 sec @ f/4, Nikkor 14-24mm

Prints are available from here:
My Norway Gallery on Photoshelter (link opens in a new window).